Mining Executive and blogger Steve McIntyre, the darling of so many climate change deniers, surely disapointed the assembled ICCC crowd in Chicago with his dry and relatively reasonable keynote address. The applause after McIntyre’s keynote address was significantly less than when he started because he didn’t call for Michael Mann and Phil Jones to go to jail.

Astronaut Harrison Schmidt (why is a former astronaut speaking at a climate conference?), who followed McIntyre, helped to steer the crowd back to the witch-hunt it was promised by conference organizers. Mark Sheppard, writing in the American Thinker, gave this account of Schmidt’s remark after McIntyre finished:

This is science, [Schmidt] retorted to a now cheering crowd, and if you want to play that game (tricks, non-disclosure, etc) then you can go somewhere else. To which more than a few in attendance added: “To Jail!”

I can think of no better analogy than the hilarious logic used by Monty Python’s King Arthur to impress an even more idiotic group of villagers, and magnificently prove that ‘she’s a witch!’.

McIntyre’s hour long keynote on the first night of the conference discussed the history of some rather dry tree ring data discussed in the East Anglia stolen email. He was welcomed with huge applause, but the crowd cooled over the course of this talk. As Sheppard said, “Steve stopped quite a bit short of passing judgment”. While McIntyre still perpetuated the myth that there is a scandal wrapped up in the emails stolen from East Anglia, this episode shows how the ravings of climate deniers hold no basis in reality.

McIntyre even slammed Virginia Attorney General Ken Ken Cuccinelli’s investigation into Hockey Stick creator Michael Mann, describing Mann’s work as “diligently published” and Cussinelli’s as “abuse of administrative prerogative.” Not exactly what the crowd was hoping to hear from one its undeniable heroes.

Thank you, Steve McIntyre for this valuable insight into the level of discourse at the 4th annual denial-palooza, sponsored by all the oil companies’ favorite think tanks.

Democracy is utterly dependent upon an electorate that is accurately informed. In promoting climate change denial (and often denying their responsibility for doing so) industry has done more than endanger the environment. It has undermined democracy.

There is a vast difference between putting forth a point of view, honestly held, and intentionally sowing the seeds of confusion. Free speech does not include the right to deceive. Deception is not a point of view. And the right to disagree does not include a right to intentionally subvert the public awareness.

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